Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs

by Camilla Townsend

Almost all the wanderers believed they came from the northwest, from Chicomoztoc, “the place of the Seven Caves.” Some groups said their specific origin was called “Aztlan,” a word of uncertain meaning, but it was probably meant to be “Place of the White Heron.” Where was Aztlan? We don’t know, and we never will. It was likely a mythical name, used to mask the fact that the ancestors had migrated multiple times. The newcomers spoke Nahuatl, which belongs to the Uto-Aztecan family of indigenous languages. These languages stretch from that of the Utes (originally in today’s Utah) down to Nahuatl. In between these areas, other peoples, such as the Hopi, also speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Thousands of years ago, along this linguistic route, people in neighboring villages would have been able to understand each other, yet a Ute would not have been able to understand a Nahua. It is very possible, even probable, that some of the migrating populations originated as far away as Utah and that others originated in northern Mexico. No single person ever traveled the entire path. No one in Shield Flower’s day could or would have carried memories of a childhood in Aztlan; it was a communal memory of a home or homes abandoned long ago that they carried with them.26